Member News

Established in 1982, GMG is a metal manufacturing and engineering company offering customers exceptional quality and service utilising the latest advancements in technology. Located in Maryborough with a second facility in Gladstone, GMG employs 60 highly skilled staff servicing industries including mining, defence, construction, transport, rail, medical, marine/shipping, and oil & gas. Highly experienced in metal fabrication, surface coatings and component machining, GMG offers a complete turnkey solution utilising modern world-class equipment and Lean manufacturing principles. The new Mazak machines are a VTC-530/20 vertical travelling column machining centre, a VCN 530C vertical machining centre, and a HCN-5000 twin-pallet horizontal machining centre. GMG Managing Director Richard Aylward cites increasing client demand as the driver for the investments, together with productivity increases brought by newer technology. “The latest Mazatrol Smooth conversational controllers have delivered a significant reduction in programming and set up time for us,” he explains. “And together with the latest technology Mazak offers in their machines, this has given us significantly reduced in-process times.” The Mazak VTC-530/20 vertical machining centre features a…

From humble beginnings with only two staff members almost 20 years ago, TruFlow Spray Booths Australia has grown to an Australia-wide operation employing 40-plus workers. The company manufactures unique custom-made spray booths that have been installed in a variety of industries including aviation, automotive repair, commercial trucking, industrial painting and cabinet making. AMT: Why did you need the new machine? Anton Pirie: We had an old second-hand 3.2m press brake that we had purchased through CMTS about 10 years ago, and although it was still running well, it wasn’t keeping up with our production. Neither was the additional 5m press brake machine, which is about 40 years old now, so we understood that we needed to update our press brake technology. AMT: How important are the press brakes to your business? AP: Very important! The press brake machines are a major piece of our production; they run all day every day. They are a…

By introducing scanning and digitising expertise into GoProto’s advanced manufacturing network, the merger enables a streamlined solution at every stage of the product development cycle. Shane Rolton, Managing Director of Wysiwyg 3D, sees the merger as a particularly beneficial opportunity for his clients, employees and business partners. “Our focus has always been on taking care of our customers by understanding what drives their business and providing solutions that affect the bottom line,” said Rolton. “We’ve already been working on a number of projects with GoProto. Combining our expertise and resources shortens the time-lag between scan data and production, putting ourselves exactly where our customers need us.” A recent project involving the repair of a rescue helicopter fuselage hatch served as a testament to the capabilities of these two companies and the potential for building greater manufacturing sovereignty within Australia. Traditionally, the NSW emergency service provider relied on overseas supply of spare parts, but with the delays relating to COVID-19, this meant that the helicopter was going to be out-of-service for several weeks.…

The Hydrafeed barfeeder offers a number of unique features. One of those is that it is a full servo-driven barfeed eliminating the need for compressed air. It can also accommodate different bar diameters and lengths including random bar lengths, and is suitable for both bar or shaft feed. One of the most important time-saving features of the Hydrafeed is that once you’ve set a bar size and saved the set-up, you never have to open the cover again. Simply call up the program from the touch screen and the Hydrafeed will set itself on the centreline automatically thanks to the servo drive bar lifter mechanism. “This feature alone puts the Hyrdafeed Barfeeder on a different level and really does take barfeeder productivity to a new level,” said Paul Fowler, Managing Director of Dimac Tooling, suppliers of the Hydrafeed barfeeder. “It’s also quick and easy to set up which helps businesses to remain flexible as they can run small batch jobs without excessive set-up times.”…

The contracts are authorised under the AUSMIN Defence Acquisition Committee (ADAC) initiative, a collaboration between the US and Australian Departments of Defence. This is the second consecutive contract with the US Navy for RUAG Australia in Q3 of 2020. First orders have been secured for the repair and overhaul of selected components on MH-60R Seahawk helicopters in the US Navy fleet. MRO support for the platform’s complex componentry requires specialized treatment and repair methods inherent to RUAG Australia’s proven aircraft component capabilities. The defence supplier is able to build upon its reliable performance and support in the componentry for the SH-60B Seahawk and to apply the full scope of its accumulated knowledge and experience therein. This is the second US Navy platform RUAG Australia is set to support, in addition to the F/A-18 Hornet contracts awarded in August 2020. This new contract strengthens the existing collaboration between RUAG Australia and the US Navy and sees a foundation for future growth for the national Defence SME. “Earning the confidence and trust of…

I have been involved in the robotics and industrial automation industry (on and off) for more than 30 years. Over the years I have seen a lot of projects make the transition from wild concept to productive and effective reality, and I have learnt a lot about what is behind both the successful and the difficult projects. That experience boils down to what I call “The Three Ps”: Product, Process and People. You must manage all three for success. It is easy to do simple automation that ‘should’ work most of the time, but life rarely travels down the middle of the road. Great and successful automation projects must take full account and manage all the things that can go wrong so they can keep going when the road gets a little rough at the edges. Achieving 99% is not good enough – that might mean a stop every five minutes. To get rock-solid automation you must take account of all the exceptions – all the things that might…

The decision to hold the AGM online had been in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also allowed the participation of members from much further afield, with around 90 AMTIL members logging in from across Australia. While conducting the AGM through video conferencing marked a big change from previous years, proceedings went smoothly, with voting on AMTIL matters taking place through onscreen polls rather than the usual show of hands. Proceedings kicked off with a keynote address from guest speaker Mike Rolls. In September 2001, Mike contracted meningococcal septicaemia, one of the deadliest diseases on the planet. He lived to tell the tale, but the infection left him with horrific internal and external injuries, including the amputation of both his legs. However, Mike refused to be set back by the illness, and has used his experience as a springboard to personal and professional success. In telling his inspirational story, Mike…

Founded in 1994, Angel Trains is a leading rolling stock provider for the UK rail industry, financing and delivering high-quality trains to UK passenger service operators. Each year, it makes significant investment in innovative solutions to modernise train fleets. One of its biggest challenges is finding an alternative to the traditional supply chain for replacement parts, which struggles to cope with growing demands. Unlike the automotive industry, where vehicles are mass produced in millions each year, rail industry fleets are comparatively small, and in some cases more than 30 years old. This combination presents several challenges for train operators, especially regarding vehicle maintenance and part replacement. “In recent times, we’ve seen growing concern among operators that sourcing replacement parts for older train fleets at a reasonable cost and in a short timeframe is proving increasingly difficult,” explained James Brown, Data & Performance Engineer at Angel Trains. “The problem is that traditional manufacturing methods only make it cost-effective to produce high volumes of spare parts, even though an operator…

BOC will install a compressor to take the hydrogen produced using renewable electricity at HyP SA and transport it via tube trailers to industrial customers across South Australia and Western Australia. BOC’s Whyalla Argon Purification Unit (APU) will also use the HyP SA hydrogen as an energy source to make high-purity argon used in industrial processes and welding gases. By January 2021 this will completely replace the need to transport hydrogen from the BOC Altona facility in Victoria, saving 117,000km in annual driving and 122,000kg of carbon emissions per year. AGIG’s plant is Australia’s largest renewable gas project and will provide a 5% hydrogen blend with natural gas for supply to nearby homes and businesses via the existing gas network. Vesna Olles, Director, Strategy and Business Development, BOC said: “South Australia will now have a local supply of green hydrogen readily available for energy projects, storage, mobility and more. BOC is proud to be partnering with AGIG to support South Australian research groups and businesses which are developing…

Brisbane-based Ellume has developed a suite of COVID-19 tests for use by laboratories, doctors and consumers that gives results in less than 15 minutes. The Ellume technology was developed to address the unprecedented global demand for rapid, accurate diagnostics. The first batch of product has already been shipped to the US, and Ellume’s new manufacturing facility in Richlands, Brisbane, is rapidly scaling up its production capacity. With extensive experience in precision assembly and production automation, BAMS will work closely with Ellume’s Engineering Team to build and install state-of-the-art automated assembly lines to increase production capacity. The assembly lines will include end of line functional testing to ensure reliable product quality. “We are delighted to bring the BAMS automation expertise to support Australian med-tech manufacturing for a global market – a real positive for local manufacturing, and a positive for the testing and medical diagnosis of COVID-19”, said Gavin Smith, President of Bosch Australia. Ellume CEO and founder Dr Sean Parsons said: “We’ve spent the last decade perfecting our…

Before you take a business-as-usual approach to managing an underperforming member of your team, consider this: what expectations can you, as an employer, reasonably have of a worker who is working from home with children underfoot, or being checked for a permit en route to work, or simply struggling with the mental load that has been dished up by 2020? When an employer manages a worker’s performance, it needs to be reasonable both in terms of the expectations that are being set, and the process that is followed. This is because ultimately, the risk is that you have to dismiss an underperforming employee. At that point, if the worker files an unfair dismissal claim, your entire process will be under scrutiny. A Fair Work Commissioner will assess whether you had set and communicated clear and reasonable expectations, whether the worker was warned…

AMT: Swinburne has always been very active in the manufacturing space. What can you tell us about any projects and initiatives you’ve got on at the moment in that area? Bronwyn Fox: Well, Swinburne has a really deep history in manufacturing, and that comes from our founder, George Swinburne himself. He did a world tour in about 1897, where he travelled the world, looking at energy technologies. He went to the UK and the US and looked at gas and electricity, which were emerging as competitive technologies, and he realised that actually the solution would be to integrate the two systems. I think that that holistic approach of George Swinburne, to integrate different, seemingly competitive systems together to create a better outcome, is a part of our history and part of our DNA at Swinburne. So it’s really exciting to be here, it’s a very creative environment. Most recently, we’ve been really focused on our Industry 4.0 strategy. My former role was heading up Swinburne’s Manufacturing Futures Research Institute, and when we launched that…

Unpredictable tool life is one of the biggest threats in automotive production, particularly as its operations are so highly automated and use some of the world’s most advanced robotics and automation systems. Downtime is time-consuming, disrupts production and is expensive, so it goes without saying that tool failures should be avoided at all costs. In some instances, manufacturers set the tool change interval to less than the maximum tool life. This approach is normally preferred because material variations in automotive components are minimal. It follows that the tool changes should be predictable, and safer than trying to extend the tool life to manufacture a few more components. For Sandvik Coromant’s specialists, the key to longer tool life is not limited to the amount of time a tool spends in use, but also the drill design itself. This approach led to the development of the CoroDrill 860 with enhanced -GM geometry, a new-design solid…